Shipping Breast Milk Encourages Women to Join Leading Tech Company

I’m convinced that the best time to be a working mother in tech is now. That’s right, mothers with a full-time job in the tech sector are currently receiving more benefits than ever before. IBM, for instance, just announced a new service they plan to launch that will allow traveling mothers to express ship their breast milk back home to their babies. Not only is this concept revolutionary, but it will also help encourage more women and expecting mothers to jump on board the tech bandwagon.

“Breast Milk on Board!”

Barbara Brickmeier, Vice President of Benefits at IBM, mentioned in an article recently published on Fortune that IBM plans to experiment with this idea first to see how many mothers will be interested in partaking. Brickmeier also noted, “As long as it appeals to a segment of our population and they feel that they can better balance their work and home, we will continue it.”

In addition to this new service, IBM offers their employees paternity leave (up to six weeks for working dads). Being able to take time off as an expecting parent is yet another great incentive to help both men and women feel comfortable working as a full-time mother/father.

Subtle changes such as these are ultimately transforming the technology playing field. More females – expectant mothers included – are now seeking out careers they might have questioned once before due to work-life balance concerns. IBM even notes an increase in women in tech, reporting that since 1995 the number of women executives at IBM has grown by 562%.

You can have both!

With new programs and benefits such as the ones mentioned above, it’s not a surprise that IBM has seen a growth in women employees. It also helps that the leading tech company is headed by a woman CEO, Ginni Rometty. Rometty is one of just 24 female executives of Fortune 500 companies, and serves as a leading female figure with an aim to create change for women in tech.

Women Joining Forces

Women CEOs and Executives such as Ginni Romett, Sheryl Sandberg and Marrisa Mayer (just to name a few), have demonstrated various efforts that have helped increase the number of working women in tech. That in mind, it’s evident that women need to help other women achieve goals that once seemed unattainable. Just as men “bond” to help one another, women are starting to do the same.

Powerful women in technology have the ability to make a difference for females across the globe. Fortunately, as the tech sector advances with female involvement, more programs and benefits will be implemented at top-technology firms that will help bring women on board. Sheryl Sandberg even mentions in her book, Lean In,

“Research already suggests that companies with more women in leadership roles have better work-life policies, smaller gender gaps in executive compensation, and more women in midlevel management.”

Thanks to women like Sheryl Sandberg and Ginni Romett, women don’t have to feel pressured to choose between a career or building a family. Now, we can have both. As females continue to advance in leadership roles, the gap will only continue to decrease.